Method and apparatus for marking consumer products

ABSTRACT

A system for providing consumers with information relating to packaged consumer goods involves marking the package for the goods with a permanent digital code that may be scanned with a cell phone to communicate over the Internet with a web site containing information about the package contents. The website and its associated server can determine if the packaging is genuine or forged and track the consumers. The marking is formed on a bottle by vapor depositing a gold layer and laser marking the layer with the code.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Application 61/772,770 filed Mar. 5, 2013, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for marking containers for consumer products with unique identifiers that assists a purchaser of the product to communicate with a website maintained by a purveyor of the product, to aid in the authentification and tracking of the product and provide the consumer with information regarding the product.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is common practice to mark packages for consumer products with barcodes, or, in some cases, QR codes the like, which contain more information than barcodes.

These codes may be read by conventional scanners of the type used in supermarket checkout counters or by code readers incorporated as a special program, or app, in smart phones. The QR codes often control the smart phones to access websites maintained by purveyors of the products, which contain additional information relating to the product, often as well as ads for other products offered by the same purveyor.

With relatively low cost packaged products these codes work well, but with higher priced products such as expensive wines, cigars or the like, counterfeiters have been known to mark their own substitute products with the code associated with the genuine product to enhance the credibility of the counterfeit article, or to obliterate the coding on authentic articles to direct consumers to inauthentic websites which promote products sold by the counterfeiter.

Another use of these websites is to allow intermediary parties in the supply chain, such as local wine stores or the like, to make additions to the website that would allow a particular barcode associated with an individual product to access information relating to the immediate seller of the product.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is accordingly directed to a coding system for consumer products and a method of using the system to obviate the noted shortcomings and disadvantages of existing marking systems.

One object of the present invention is to provide a method of marking the containers of consumer products, particularly bottles, with codes that may not be altered without leaving visible evidence of the alteration on the container. In one embodiment of the invention, which will subsequently be described in detail, this involves depositing a layer of a metal, and preferably a precious nonreactive metal, such as gold, on a section of the container and then forming the desired code, preferably a QR code but possibly a barcode, a visual alphanumeric code or the like, using a laser which ablates controlled sections of the deposited layers to reveal the underlying surface of the container, in a pattern which forms the digital code.

In the following description, these codes will be collectively referred to as “digital codes” or the like. In still other embodiments of the present invention, RFID chips may be employed to provide the digital codes.

In another embodiment of the invention the container is marked with a other additional codes, including codes formed a printed label. If the container also contains a tax stamp as required by governmental regulations, that may be used in authentication of the product.

The codes of the present invention preferably contain information specifying the particular container being marked, and when scanned will direct the user to a particular section of a website which deals with that particular container as well as including the more general information regarding the product. This allows the purveyor of the website to track the location of the bottle, and possibly obtain marketing information of great significance associated with the ultimate purchaser.

Full access to the website maintained by the provider of the packaged goods may require the scanning of additional codes on the bottle, such as on a printed label. Alternatively, the consumer may transmit a photograph of the container to the website. The web server may compare this to a previously stored photo of the consumer's container in determining the authenticity of the product. Additionally, the image of a tax stamp on the bottle may have previously been entered into the website's server, and the stamp must be scanned or imaged to gain access to the website and/or to generate a message with respect to the authenticity of the product.

When the shipment reaches a retailer, the retailer may scan the QR codes on each bottle received to contact a unique website page containing information for the bottle. The retailer, or a distributor, may then transmit signals over the Internet to the unique webpage for the bottle to provide identifying information such as “bottle purchased from Joe's Wine Store” etc. When the consumer purchases one or more of the bottles they may scan the QR codes to gain access to the unique web pages to access the identifying information regarding the bottle such as the date harvested, weather information during the growing season, etc. They may then add comments regarding the bottle to the web page such as when the bottle was purchased, when the bottle was opened, and tasting characteristics of the wine, etc.

In a variant of the present invention, the purchaser of a wine bottle of a particular vintage may use the QR code on any one bottle to gain access to the unique web pages of all bottles of the same mark and/or vintage for comparison purposes. Otherwise, the unique website pages created by one QR code may be made available only to the possessor of the particular bottle and vendor and entities in the supply chain.

While the present invention is largely described in connection with wine bottles, variations may be employed to market other consumer products such as cigars, premium food products, or any other consumer products marketed in a container.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other advantages, applications, and details of the invention will be made apparent by the following written description which makes reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a drawing of a wine bottle having a digital code in the form of a QR code formed on a layer of vapor deposited gold on the bottle and also bearing a conventional label with a bar code and a tax stamp;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the use of a numerically controlled laser writer to form the digital code on the metal layer applied to a wine bottle;

FIG. 3 illustrates use of a cell phone scanner to read an encoded wine bottle; and

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates the type of information that may be received from websites contacted by use of the present invention and displayed on a consumer's cell phone.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

While the present invention may be used in connection with a wide variety of consumer goods, an embodiment in which the system is used in connection with a wine bottle constitutes a preferred embodiment and is illustrated in the drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates a wine bottle, generally indicated at 10, having a conventional paper label 12 adhered to the bottle. The label 12 may include a digital code which may be scanned by a user's cell phone, and used in connection with other indicia on the bottle to determine the authenticity of the bottle. The bottle 10 further includes a thin metallic layer 14 formed in a selected area. While the metallic layer could be achieved by adhering a thin metal foil, for reasons of security, the preferred embodiment involves a vapor deposition of the metal on the bottle. The resulting layer is difficult to remove, alter, or deface, and thus provides a permanent marking.

The surface of the bottle to which the metal layer is applied may be first etched to aid the adhesion of the layer or an intermediate base layer may be initially applied. By way of example, European Patent Publication EP1160215 discloses a method of depositing gold on glass using a vacuum vapor deposition. The method first involves the application of an under layer material such as pure titanium or chromium. A metal layer such as gold is then deposited so that the first of the metal layer atoms are deposited simultaneously with the last of the still active base layer atoms. This prevents the formation of an oxide or water layer on the base layer which would limit adhesion of the overlying gold layer. Alternatively, an article in J. Adhesion Sci. Tech., Volume 1, No. 3, PP243-246 (1987) discloses a method of boding gold to glass using an organosilane primer. The primer used in the article, Dow Corning 1205, was found to develop adhesion between the vapor deposited gold and glass better than 17.5 N/cm.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the digital code and preferably the QR code 18 illustrated in FIG. 1, may be formed on the gold layer 14 by ablation of the layer with an appropriate laser 20 under control of a numerical control system. Such laser based micromachining systems are available from a number of sources including Oxford Layers Inc., 2 Shaker Road, Unit D201, Shirley, Mass. 01464 USA. The laser source used in the ablation may constitute a Yag Laser, a laser diode, and other suitable varieties. The laser is pulsed and preferably has a power level less than 10 watts. The laser beam 22 is directed over the surface of the layer 14 to ablate its target and form the QR code or other digital code in the resulting exposed surface of the bottle 10.

The QR code may be scanned by a conventional smart cell phone 20 equipped with a suitable scanning app as illustrated in FIG. 3. Information embedded in the QR code will direct the cell phone to communicate over the Internet to a website containing information relative to the bottle. This may include detailed information related to the production of the wine, its producer, the date the grapes were harvested, etc.

The website server can also determine the location of the consumer contacting the website for information. The system metadata includes the particular bottle identification, the case identification in which the bottle is shipped, the distributor to whom the case was shipped and the consumer's location. The website server will also keep track of subsequent internet transmissions based on a scan of the bottle or its codes. This information is of extreme value in marketing the products.

As illustrated in FIG. 4, in addition to providing the consumer with information relative to the container he/she has purchased, a server associated with the website may also make a determination of the authenticity of the bottle, i.e. whether or not it is the original bottle or a counterfeit or the like, and transmit that information to the inquiring consumer. FIG. 4 illustrates two alternative displays that may be generated on the consumer's website, the display 26 indicating that the product is authentic, or alternatively, display 28 indicating that the product is not authentic. 

Now having disclosed my invention, I claim:
 1. The method of marking a consumer package with a code which may be scanned to access a website relating to the product, comprising: depositing a metallic film on a portion of the container; and marking the film with said code with a laser to ablate sections of the film in the form of the code.
 2. The method of claim 1 in which the film constitutes a noble metal.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein the film constitutes gold which is vapor deposited on the container.
 4. The method of claim 1 wherein the laser is a solid-state pulsed laser having an average power of less than 10 watts.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the code is digital.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein the code is a QR code.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the consumer package is a bottle.
 8. The method of claim 1 wherein the film is deposited over a base layer to enhance the films adhesion to the package.
 9. The method of claim 1 wherein the code contains information which, when scanned by a cell phone, causes the cellphone to communicate over the Internet to a website containing information related to the contents of the package.
 10. The method of claim 1 wherein the website is associated with a server that determines the authenticity of origin of the package based on said communication from the cell phone and transmits a message to the cell phone relating to the authenticity.
 11. The method of claim 1 wherein the communication from the cell phone to the website contains information derived from the code.
 12. The method of claim 11 wherein the container includes a paper label imprinted with identifying information related to the container which is communicated to the website.
 13. The method of claim 9 wherein the website determines the location of the cell phone and stores that information.
 14. The method of claim 11 wherein the container bears a government issued tax stamp and the information communicated to the website comprises information relating to said stamp.
 15. A system for authenticating and providing information relative to consumable food and drink products, comprising: a container for the consumable product; a two dimensional bar code imprinted on the exterior of the container, the bar code including information relative to the nature and provenance of the edible product within the container, and information causing a cell phone with a display screen having an application program for scanning the bar code to transmit information via the internet to a particular website maintained by a supplier of the product, and transmitting to such website the information relating to the product and its provenance which is encoded in the bar code; such website containing additional information relative to the products provenance which is transmitted to said cell phone for display on its screen and comprises an indication of the authenticity or non-authenticity of the product in the container.
 16. The system of claim 15 wherein the two dimensional bar code is a QR code.
 17. The system of claim 15 wherein the container is a bottle.
 18. The system of claim 17 wherein the product is an alcoholic beverage.
 19. The system of claim 18 wherein the additional information contained on the website comprises comments added to the website by consumers tasting said product.
 20. The system of claim 15 wherein the two dimensional bar code is formed on a noble metal layer adhered to the container.
 21. The system of claim 20 wherein the two dimensional bar code is formed by ablating the foil with a laser beam.
 22. The system of claim 15 wherein the consumable product is a food.
 23. The system of claim 20 in which the noble metal layer is a foil. 